• Annika Schneider (Purpose Foundation): Achim, you co-founded Purpose in 2015 and the Purpose team has since worked with over 150 entrepreneurs. What motivates you to do this work?

Achim Hensen: I have always, from a young age onwards, been passionate about human collaboration. I think the greatest achievements in human history became possible because humans collaborated. I find this aspect of humans and of societies fascinating and love being part of processes where one can feel that groups get into their potential. Throughout my career question of how individuals and groups of people can unleash this potential was a constant.

An especially pivotal experience on this journey let me to the ownership question. I worked as an organizational developer at an online vacation rental platform, where I accompanied a successful transformation during a growth phase. We received several awards for a New Work concept, with over 140 people working in self-managed, autonomous teams. Purpose and self-determination were guiding principles of that work.

The blind spot of the approach to tailoring a purpose-driven, self-determined and self-managed organizational set-up became painfully clear when the platform was sold one day. Suddenly, there were people entering the office who said “we are the new owners - you are part of the family now." I was really struck by the absurdity that a business could be commandeered simply because someone became an owner by the power of money. The entrepreneurial freedom we had before was essential for the approach. The sale was the end of that freedom and created absentee owners. By that, a lot of the magic that was the company left - together with its owner. While observing how the organization went south and the very precious place we created lost its spark I painfully realized that you can not leave ownership and investment structures out of the equation when talking about purpose and self-determination.

That moment was eye-opening, and the question of how healthy ownership structures could look entered my life. On my search for a solution I met my co-founders and we started the Purpose Foundation. After we found the forerunners of steward-ownership like Bosch and Zeiss and discovered the ownership patterns they share - we nowadays call that steward-ownership - we started helping other entrepreneurs understand this idea and build their own versions. Till today I think there is a special magic when an organization's structure and the financing and ownership structure complement each other. If those elements are designed coherently and come together as one it can be an extremely powerful environment for human collaboration. And this is what companies are for me: A group of people collaborating to turn an idea into reality and work on a shared purpose.

 

• Can you tell us more about the work you do with entrepreneurs and company owners?So let’s say a company owner approaches you. What do you tell her, what are the steps they need to start thinking about?

The first step is understanding that the concept of ownership is one you can play around with, it's not a fixed thing. Let me explain that. Ownership consists of two main aspects, namely who holds the power in form of voting rights and what role profits play - who owns the rights to profits and why. You can combine these aspects in any beautiful way you can imagine, based on the question “what is a company and which specific ownership structure suits it best?” You don't have to be told by a professor or by a legal form that already exists. And that's what we do with all the entrepreneurs we work with.

We help them understand the flexibility of ownership and find a concept that feels coherent and gives them freedom because it fits their entrepreneurial idea of what a company is.

Next, we do a stakeholder mapping to understand the needs of each party involved. From there, we create a "future ownership memo" that outlines design principles before consulting a lawyer and tax advisor to find the most cost-effective and suitable legal structure. But our work does not end there. We help companies to implement the new structure, we support them on how to communicate the changes and what it means for all stakeholders. So essentially we help them to bring the new structure to life. And if desired, we also accompany them in the following years to reflect and if needed to adjust the new structure to ensure its coherence with the present.

 

• What are the biggest hurdles or blockages companies face that get in the way of a successful process?

A major challenge that many company owners face during the ownership process is to differentiate personal needs from the needs of the company. Entrepreneurs often put the company’s goals first, disregarding their own needs. For a successful ownership transition, it is important to allow these different needs to coexist and create space for open dialogue, including for perspectives and voices that aren’t always heard.

 

• Could you give an example of these not-so-often-heard perspectives?

For instance, a perspective might be: "For the company, the best thing is to transition into steward-ownership, so I’m doing that" But on a personal level, the individual might have concerns like, "How will I secure my retirement?" or "I feel like I’ve sacrificed a lot over the years, and I want to balance that out." If these often unaligned needs are not acknowledged, a tension can build that grows over time. So we help entrepreneurs to bring these perspectives into a dialogue with the company’s purpose and see if it can be reconciled, if a balance can be found.

What often happens is people move too early into legal implementation without really knowing what they want. They need to think about the “body” for which they’re designing a “dress”, before even thinking about the choice of dress. Take Robert Bosch, for example: he ended up at steward-ownership because of specific needs and wishes he had for the legal set-up of his company. The goal wasn’t simply to implement steward-ownership for its own sake. That’s why it’s always important at the beginning to clarify the design principles based on the stakeholders needs that a legal dress should fulfill. If in the end it turns out to be steward-ownership, fine. If it’s a slightly different shade, that’s okay. And if it’s something completely different, that’s okay too. The most important thing is to find the right fit, not just to implement something arbitrarily.

 

• What determines the success or failure of a process?

One thing that immediately comes to mind is how much headspace and resources those who can actually decide on ownership – the current owners – have to really engage with what they truly want and what the right solution for them is. There are certain aspects of ownership that simply cannot be delegated – to any advisor or internal project manager. You have to sharpen your own understanding and make decisions.

No one can decide for you what you need, what worries or fears you have, etc. Ownership structuring simply doesn’t work without the owners.

And ownership structures don’t work without people, the owners, to fill the roles in the structure. Steward-ownership without people taking up the task of stewarding doesn’t work. A structure doesn’t take responsibility and decisions, people do.

 

• And what would you say if I asked how long such a process usually takes?

Everything – from 2 weeks to a number of years. For entrepreneurs that already know 100% what they want and where a legal option within the jurisdiction already exists, we could go to the notary in two weeks. But it’s also perfectly valid to spend a couple of years on it, because this is really about getting to the essence of what your company should be and all the processes that might be triggered while or need to be resolved before implementing a next iteration of your ownership.

 

Thank you for the interview, Achim!